This week: A Plethora of Words Edited by: fyn  
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My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel--it is, before all, to make you see. ~~Joseph Conrad
All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down. ~~Friedrich Nietzsche
No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world. ~~Robin Williams
Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people, and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary. ~~Boris Pasternak
The two words 'information' and 'communication' are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through. ~~Sydney J. Harris
But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think. ~~Lord Byron
My favourite words are possibilities, opportunities and curiosity. I think if you are curious, you create opportunities, and then if you open the doors, you create possibilities. ~~Mario Testino
I live by two words: tenacity and gratitude. ~~Henry Winkler
Words do two major things: They provide food for the mind and create light for understanding and awareness. ~~Jim Rohn
Words to me were magic. You could say a word and it could conjure up all kinds of images or feelings or a chilly sensation or whatever. It was amazing to me that words had this power. ~~Amy Tan
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Being a writer, I am a lover of words. All kinds of words. Words like miasma and plethora. Words like myriad and mnemonic. I like the sounds of them. Or the way my tongue twists while saying them. Aluminum and cinnamon. I remember being fascinated by oubliette.
I would go digging to find out where the words came from. In doing so, I usually found other new words as well! We kept a dictionary in the bathroom as a child. I read it cover to cover. Who knew how handy it would come it for playing Scrabble! Qi and quat for example!
We had a humongous globe in the den that was exceptionally detailed. New Jersey, where I lived was not particularly exciting. But Marrakech? Or Zanzibar---they sparked my imagination into a wildfire!
Sloth. What a word! Dirigible. Digeridoo.
As my husband and I began to return to Hawai'i, I found new words to learn how to say without stumbling. Haleakela and humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Aloha means hello, goodbye, how you doing and several other phrases as well. All in how it is said. I would e entranced by words pronounced differently in different places. Milan - with a short i, soft a --or Milan - with long i, short o sound. Worchester, MA is pronounces Wooster; unless you are from someplace and then everyone know it!
There was a push forty-some-odd-years ago to switch to phonetic spelling. It didn't really go anywhere. Happily!. Might you know what ghoti* would be?
For a while I collected homophones. (too, two, to or horse and hoarse) and heteronyms, (live, for example). I'd get happily entangled in the whole 'i before e except after c, or when sounded as a as in neighbor and weigh' thing, but then I discovered weird, caffein and many others. Words were just so much fun!!!
They still are!
*ghoti
gh sounded as gh in cough
o sounded as in women
ti sounded as sh in nation.
fish
:)
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Elisa the Bunny Stik  writes: I admit when I read this I noticed contradicting themes. The letter started off almost lamenting the shifts of language and being unable to sort out things solely in text. This is strange to me, as I admit I sometimes have an easier time figuring out tone in text than deciphering tone in things like body language (which in this day and age is being questioned due to flaws in methodology in the historical studies). The lines "Many people don't care for texting because it lacks the visual aids of body language, smiles or eye movement. It doesn't have the surrounding nuances that one once relied upon." actually made me shake my head, as I know that text communication can be easier for some neurodiverse people precisely because the visual aids are taken out of the picture. For the neurodiverse (like myself), those visual aids are more of a hindrance, and we can become confused or even tired in trying to follow them. On the other hand, with things like text, we have more time and space to find the exact word we want that conveys a level of nuance and thus develop a sense of tone in the written word...
You make some excellent points here!!! Noted! :)
which is why the second half of the letter made some more sense to me. It talks about the importance or word selection while inadvertently providing a great example of this. I was struck by the line "Seems like people are far more likely to criticize than praise." Setting aside the issue of praise (as a lot of praise younger generations have encountered has been under false pretenses, hence the pushback), I think the word criticize mischaracterizes what's going on. More and more of us are turning analytical. Our criticisms are more detailed in nature, so we prefer to analyze over praise. We made laud something, but we will do so after examining all the factors and stress testing the scenario to make sure it's reasonably solid before providing praise. In this case, criticize dumps the more analytical sorts in with people whose emotions are wobbly enough to turn borderline anti-social.
Perhaps here, I, in trying quite hard to do so, wasn't clear. I think I was more aiming for the quickness of 'some' to find fault without examining all side of an issue. Lots of both going on!
And let's not get started on the language around beauty. I've discussed it in my journal, but hoo boy could I elaborate on how we're all missing the point when assessing that subfield of language and socialization.
OH MY, yes!!!
Damon Nomad  questions: Nice job; I found this quote you provided particularly interesting: Poetry has never been the language of barriers, it's always been the language of bridges. ~~Amanda Gorman
I had never thought about it but is it true? is there poetry that is meant to divide?
Absolutely. Perhaps as in divide groups of people or to present a differing opinion which often may lead to division. Something I have discovered is that what at one point in time might be to create a division from 'what is' to 'what could be' which over time can bring people together.
tracker  says: Hi Fyn,
Nice job with the newsletter. Getting down to the importance of words was quite inspirational. When you say just the right word, as the reader it is a great experience. Thanks for the nicely written information. tracker
thanking you |
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For Authors: February 28, 2024 Issue [#12438]
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